KIEV, July 28 - Foreign ownership of Ukrainian banks will continue to rise throughout the rest of the year as the program to recapitalize the banking system is carried out, the National Bank of Ukraine said in a letter.

The amount of foreign investment in Ukrainian bank charter capital increased 12% in the first half of 2010 or by UAH 5.2 billion, boosting the foreign stake in bank charter capital 0.2 percentage points to 36%.

Paid-up, registered charter capital at Ukrainian banks increased 11.8% in the first half to UAH 133.203 billion.